This invention relates primarily to a device arranged to facilitate the opening and reclosing of flexible bags, tubes and the like, and more particularly to a novel device that is configured to serve both functions while providing a simplified construction with a resulting simplified operation for reliability and ease of use.
The packaging of materials and products in flexible bags and tubes has long been considered a practical and efficient method of packaging. Everything from building materials to snacks come in bags nowadays, and yet the age old problem of opening the bags and temporarily resealing them between uses has only seemed to become worse over time particularly with the introduction of new packaging materials and methods. One of the most widely recognized truisms in the art is that the difficulty of opening and resealing a bag nowadays is directly proportional to how fragile the contents of the bag are.
Virtually everyone, for example, has experienced the oft times comical exercise of trying to open a bag of potato chips, and the near absolute mutilation of the bag and its contents that invariably results when those bags are opened by hand without a cutting tool of some sort. Moreover, it is widely recognized that the materials being used in bag construction have the additionally frustrating characteristic of a highly developed "memory" that virtually defies remaining in a rolled up condition between uses so that the contents are kept away from exposure to air. In short, a growing problem exists where, if one is able to successfully open a bag so that it remains in a condition in which it may be rolled up in order to reseal the contents between uses, it won't stay rolled up for very long.
Various devices have been provided heretofore in the art that attempt to address these problems, typical of which are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 596,150; 3,266,711; 3,629,905; 4,296,529; 4,360,970 and 5,007,171, the first four relating to bag closing devices, and the final two relating to bag opening devices. All of the bag closing devices however ignore the more reliable and secure method of sealing a bag by rolling its open end up, and instead provide constructions which attempt to maintain an airtight and secure seal by simply pinching or clamping the mouth of the bag closed. The opener devices that are known simply provide blade-holding devices through which the upper portion of a bag is drawn so as to cut its sealed top edge off.